London Stone Child Labour Campaign
Apologies for much of what follows: it was written by some clueless PR droid....
No Child Left Behind is a ground-breaking project taking place in Budhpura, India, with the aim of creating Child Labour Free Zones (CLFZ). The project's vision is a world where every child has the right to an education and to enjoy their childhood. Behind the project are a collective of NGOs – Manjari, India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) and Stop Child Labour –supported by European stone companies Beltrami, Stoneasy.com and London Stone.
The uncomfortable truth is that children are still involved in the stone quarrying industry in India, and in particular in the production of cobbles ( says the press release, when they actually mean setts! ).
Located at the heart of the sandstone quarry belt in Rajasthan, Budhpura is a major source of sandstone cobble ( setts!!! ) and particularly vulnerable to child labour. The reasons for the prevalence of child labour in the stone industry are many and varied.
The core principle in the approach of the No Child Left Behind project is that the whole community must be involved in bringing change. All stakeholders, including parents, children, teachers, local authorities and stone companies must work together to achieve the aim of keeping children out of work and in school.
From 2015, the help of Stop Child Labour has allowed the project to extend into four additional villages in Budhpura, meaning that more children can be reached.
Whilst the real work 'on the ground' is being done by Manjari, (with guidance and funding of ICN and Stop Child Labour), the European stone companies involved – Beltrami, Stoneasy.com and London Stone – are able to support the project through funding and by leveraging ( Jayz! I hate that term! ) their own supply chains. This multi-faceted approach means that throughout the whole supply chain and extended throughout the communities in sandstone production areas, children are being taken out of work and enrolled in education.
To find out more please visit www.nochildleftbehind.co.uk or follow them on Twitter @Children4school
